Steady My Heart
by Blinded-Kit
Summary: Hermione comes to take care of Tony after Pepper suddenly leaves. One-shot only


This took about two hours to do, and I'm super freaking tired so I hope you guys like it. I had one for Steve and Loki, so I wanted to try one for Ironman...I will be trying one for Spider man, just to see how it looks, so look for it!

enjoy

Own Nothing.

One-shot.

* * *

Hermione walked up the driveway; she parked her car further away from the house and walked up to the door. She knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. She sighed and pushed the intercom. "You there?"

"Mr. Stark is busy at the moment, may I ask who's here?" Jarvis asked, the computerize voice made Hermione jump.

"Hermione Granger, I'm Anthony's friend from childhood." Hermione told the house.

There wasn't a reply and she continued to knock on the door. "Anthony Stark, open this door right now!" She shouted, her fist pounded on the door. "I can blast this door down if I wanted to!" The door swung open to a disheveled and confused Tony on the other side, his eyes wide as he stared at her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

She rolled her eyes and pushed past him. "I came to check up on you."

"What for? I'm fine?" He replied.

She looked over her shoulder as she stepped into the living room. "Is that a statement or a question Anthony?"

"I'm fine Hermione. Why are you here?" He followed her, watching as she picked up his clothes that he had flung everywhere. "Did Pepper call you? Is that why you're here?"

"I saw it on the news and I got a hold of Pepper and I talked to her about it. Now I'm here to drink beer with you and smoke cigars and find suitable girls for you to rebound on, so basically be your man." She smiled at him as she pulled her hair up in a ponytail. "First, I'm going to clean up this place, no respectful girl will sleep in a dump. Well, I guess the ones we find wont really care much."

"Why?"

Hermione looked at him. "Why? As in why wont they care much?"

"No, why are you doing this?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "Isn't that blokes do when they break up, they go have random sex?" She made a pile of clothes to wash before searching for a trash bag to through away trash. "Girls normally buy ice cream and chocolate and watch movies that makes us pine for the perfect guy then feel like shit the next morning."

Tony sighed and rubbed his face. "I don't want to do either."

Hermione stopped and stared at him. She set the trash bag done and walked up to him; she cupped his cheek and looked up at him softly. "What do you want to do then?"

"I want to not hurt." He whispered to her, sad again.

She nodded and pulled away. "Go take a shower, I'll call for pizza and we'll watch a movie."

"What kind of movie?" He asked, as she continued to pick up the trash. She looked up at him and smiled. "You're not going to tell me are you?" She shook her head 'no' and he sighed. "Fine, be down and a bit."

"Shave too, you look like a grizzly bear." She smirked as he flipped her off.

* * *

She had basically took over Pepper Pott's job the last few weeks, taking care of Tony, making sure he was were he was suppose to be, taking care of the house, is cars, his company. But every time she could walk into his workshop, he would look up, as if expecting Pepper and look sad before smiling at her. It broke her heart to see her friend so hurt.

"I need your signature on these papers Anthony and then you can have the day off." She smiled at him, biting back her own sadness.

He nodded and smiled as he signed the papers. "You can call me Tony." He told her, just like he had done a million times before.

She shook her head. "I like calling you Anthony." She kissed his cheek and then left the room. He smiled as she left before he turned back to work. He would never tell her, but he like it when she called him Anthony too.

* * *

He came in with a box of caramel chocolate frogs, her favorite that he searched far and wide for and a new novel about history. He wanted to thank her for everything she had done for him, two months ago she showed up and save him from depression and kicked his ass out of it.

He walked into the house and into the living room to see Hermione asleep on the couch in one of his t-shirts and shorts, laundry was folded and in baskets around her. He smiled, looking at the T.V to see one of her favorite movies playing, the Labyrinth, it was almost over. He set down the novel and chocolate frogs and picked up his friend. He carried her up to her room and tucked her into her bed. He felt her forehead and she had a fever. "Jarvis, check Hermione's body temperature."

"100.4 °F, Sir she appears to have a cold." Jarvis stated in a low voice so he wouldn't wake her.

Tony sighed and went to fetch a washcloth from her bathroom and ran water over it, he rung it out then he placed it on her forehead. He left her room and walked down stairs. "Jarvis, I want a recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup."

"Sir, it would be easier and less disastrous if we hired a chef." Jarvis replied.

Tony grimaced and nodded. "Okay, find someone who can make the best and get them here." He looked over to the baskets of laundry and sighed. "I have chores to do." He walked over to them and picked them up.

* * *

The first public appearance Hermione was out with Tony was, in the best way to describe it, a horrible, terrible disaster. Hermione sat back against the leather seat of her and Tony's car, Happy in the driver seat. "I never want to do that again." She growled.

He snorted and looked at her. "It wasn't that bad."

She glared at him. "They spilt shrimp cocktail on my dress, then they wouldn't stop taking pictures and when I tried to clean some of it off, my dress ripped, in front of everyone. How can anyone take me seriously now? I must have seemed like an idiot to them." She wanted to cry so badly but she fought back against it.

"Hey." He pulled her to him and held her close. "It's okay, it could have been worse."

She sighed, wrapping an arm around his waist. "That doesn't make me feel better Anthony."

"It wasn't supposed to, but come tomorrow you'll feel slightly less humiliated and it'll be better." He tried to reassure her.

"Thank you, but I think that this one is going to stay around a while." She whispered. "Can we just order a pizza and watch a movie with lots of explosions?"

"One would think Miss Granger that you like action movies because you miss being in action." Tony remarked.

"I would miss being with you more." She whispered, her eyes drooping, she was exhausted and they had another thirty minutes before they would reach home, so she opted for a nap.

* * *

When he became an Avenger, she refused to let him go into it alone, she glared Fury into looking away, statin her dominance. "No, you're just going to let him do something stupid." She growled at Fury when he told her that he was in charge.

When they met the other Avengers, she observed them, noticing two other women who were close to one man. A big blonde man, Thor she figured, the God of Thunder. She immediately liked Steve when she saw him, he was a hero by nature, but he wasn't stupid to get others hurt.

"Take away your suit and what are you?" Steve asked Tony.

"A billionaire, genius, playboy philanthropist." Tony replied and Thor laughed.

Hermione rolled her eyes and stepped forward. "Girls, that enough." She ordered. "Captain Rogers I understand that you were close friends with Anthony's father and I know it must be annoying as hell for you to see how different the two of them are. But we are a team and we must play nice together while we're all in the sandbox or we'll get our arses handed to us." She stated as Steve glared over her head at Tony. She frowned and snapped her fingers in his face, catching his attention. "Listen here Captain, I understand that you hate Anthony right now, he's an arse, he has no respect for others and he has the biggest god complex mixed with a hero complex I have seen in a really long time." Steve stared down at her in shock. "But just listen to me, if you try to even to mess with me through him I will tear you apart limb from limb because that's what friendship is. You do remember friendship even after the long sleep you've had?"

Steve nodded slowly. "Yes ma'am."

She smiled and looked down at her phone. She growled and inserted a headpiece. She clicked the phone on and glared at Fury who was about to yell at her. "Hermione Granger speaking." She paused. "No, Stark industries does not sell to the Middle East…" She walked out into the hallway.

Tony smirked, waiting until the door closed. "You have to forgive her, it's her time of the month and she gets a bit protective." He just shrugged as Steve looked at him. "It'll be best if you waited a week before you apologize for making her upset and I'll apologize to for egging you on."

"I accept." Steve stated.

"I wasn't apologizing to you, it's her I have to apologize to, even if I don't do anything, it's always my fault, just for a week." He shrugged.

"Why do you put up with the woman then?" Thor asked.

Tony smiled and looked at the door. "Because she pulled me out of a dark place and order a pizza when I was depressed."

* * *

Hermione sighed and was soaking in the big bathtub in Tony's suite, her bathroom was not as big and just had a large shower. She heard him coming in after a long night in the workshop. "Anthony?" She called out and she heard him walked into the darkly lit bathroom, looking around at all the scented candles. "The reason why you gave me a bathroom with no tub is beyond me." She simply stated, eyes closed.

"You looked relaxed." He stated. She nodded, getting bubbles on her nose, she heard Tony laugh and he leaned down and wiped them off. "How long have you been in there?" He asked her, sitting on the step next to the tub.

"The water burned my skin." She whispered and she opened her eyes, watching as he dipped his finger in the water. "I put a spell on it, it'll remain hot for a while."

"So you don't know how long then?" He asked.

She shook her head and took a deep breath, she dunked herself under the water, letting her hair get wet, she came back up to see him staring at her. "What?"

"It's 3:30 in the morning." He told her.

"I couldn't sleep." She replied. "Nightmares."

"You could've came and got me, I would've stayed with you." He told her. "Friends do that."

She shrugged and played with the bubbles. "Pepper called me earlier." She whispered, not looking at him. "She wants to talk to you."

He sighed and looked away. "What did you say?"

She looked up at him and sighed. "I said I would talk to you and that I would get back to her later, tomorrow, or I guess today and tell her."

"What if I don't want to see her?" He asked her. "She left me Hermione, she just left, with just a note saying why." He looked down.

"Anthony Howard Stark." Hermione said his full name as she sat up in the tub; she put her arms on the edge of the tub, leaning over it, with her top off still covered. She cupped his cheek with one of her hands. "Don't think that I would let you do this to yourself again." She whispered. "I care to much."

"Could you ever love me Hermione?" He asked.

She smiled softly and nodded. "I have always loved you."

He sighed and stood up. "Not like Hermione, could I ever be loved, I gave myself to Pepper, I can't give myself to someone else and not know if I wont be hurt again." He left the bathroom. She sighed and leaned back in the tub, she could hear him get ready for bed, the lights off. She sat in the tub for another ten minutes before she drained the tub; she dried herself off and changed into her pajamas.

She spell dried her hair and took her dirty clothes in her bag that she had brought. She walked into Tony's room to see him facing the other way, sighing, she walked over to him. She leaned over and ran her fingers through his hair before kissing his cheek. "I have always been in love with you Anthony." She whispered to him before leaving the bedroom.

Tony heard her leave, his heart racing as he kept replaying her words in his head. He, for the first time, didn't know what to do.

* * *

Hermione had started to focus more on the business side of his company, he hadn't actually seen her in over two weeks, she was no loner coming to Avenger meetings, she took all of her meals at the company, she never called to check up on him, nothing.

He was starting to worry about her, he was afraid that he had chased her away like he did Pepper. So he called Pepper one day. They met for lunch at one of his favorite places and they were quiet, until the very end all they made was awkward small talk. Finally he had enough. "What did I do wrong?" He asked her.

Pepper looked down at her hands with sad eyes and sighed. "It wasn't you, it was everything, I couldn't handle you always in harms way, chances of you dying, the company going up and down, I couldn't handle it any longer." She looked up. "It wasn't you as yourself. I loved you."

"You don't anymore?" He asked, suddenly curious.

She shook her head. "I don't know, the first few weeks were hell, I wanted to come back, I was hurt, confused, lost. I called Hermione."

"She said that she called you?" Tony asked.

She shook her head. "I wanted her to know before it hit the rest of the world. I wanted her there for you, because I couldn't be. She hates flying Tony but she was there as soon as she could. I talked to her several times, I wanted to make sure you were okay, she was taking care of you."

"She took great care of me." Tony stated.

Pepper nodded. "Because she loves you, much more than I every could, I knew the first time you introduced us that she was in love with you. But you didn't see her that way, she was just your friend, so she was."

"So you left to give her a chance?" Tony asked.

"I left to just leave, I wanted to breath Tony. Can you honestly say that you're not happy now?"

"At this exact moment?" He asked. "No, but since Hermione has came and lived with me, I've been doing great, it just hurts."

"Don't chase her away Tony." Pepper begged him. "For the longest time she was broken, she needs you more than you need her." Pepper stated before pulling out her wallet to pay for her meal.

"I got this one." Tony stated. "We're still friends and friends take turns paying." He smiled at her. "Thank you Pepper."

She nodded and stood up, walking away from their table. He sighed and handed the waiter his card when he brought the check over. He needed to rethink his strategy with Hermione.

* * *

Hermione fought along battle with them, they knew she was a Witch and strong one, but to see her in action, her extremely powerful curse hit Loki, knocking him to the ground. The Avengers watched in horror was the two magical beings fought one on one against each other, Clint holding Tony back and Steve holding Thor back.

Hermione dodged Loki's attack before sending a curse of her own, hitting him with another spell right after. Loki was knocked onto his back, not able to move. Hermione ran over and stood over his body and muttered in a low voice a long spell and soon Loki's body was glowing before dimming down. Hermione fell to her knees and collapsed on the ground next to his still body. His powers bound, he was basically mortal and it took a lot of energy out of her.

"Hermione!" Tony shouted, rushing to her side, he scooped her up and flew off to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters. He rushed her to the med bay to be checked. He stepped out of the doctors' way as they examined her. "Is she going to be okay?"

The doctor finally looked up and nodded. "It just looked like exhaustion Mr. Stark."

Tony sighed, his heart slowly down. He reach out and grabbed her hand, holding it while she slept.

* * *

It was Christmas time and Tony always threw the best parties. It was one Hermione would never forget, but she was sure as hell glad it was over. She helped clean up, her high heel shows kicked off over two hours ago, walking around with bare feet.

She had been ignoring Tony for most of the night if she could help it; she wanted to talk to her other co-workers from the company and some of the Avengers.

But it was the end of the night and only a few other people were there, Steve, Thor, Jane, Darcy, Coulson, Clint and Natasha. Tony and Hermione were on opposite sides of the room, talking to them when they both unaware when to get something to drink. "Uh-oh!" Darcy shouted with a smirk.

Hermione and Tony looked up to see mistletoe above them. Hermione sighed with a blushed across her cheeks, looking at Tony to see him still looking up. "Anthony." She stated, he looked down at her. "My lips are over here." She pulled at his shirt, pulling him to her, crushing their lips together. He immediately wrapped his arms around her waist; her arms went up around his neck.

"Get a bedroom." Clint shouted, breaking them apart. "It well over due."

Hermione blushed even redder as Tony smiled. "No problem." He took her hand and dragged her to his bedroom.


End file.
